Elyse, I’m FINALLY getting notices- but yeah they were out for a while. Steepster Select has been blank for me for a while- I’m not even seeing the chai anymore. If you click on it and read the convo in the comments you’ll understand why. It’s become quite clear that Jason does all the work here… or at least that’s the impression I’ve gotten and if it isn’t true Mike and Jack need to make an effort to change my perception.

Your second question came off as being really sarcastic and was uncalled for. As for your 1st, because, if my perception is wrong, it is their actions (or lack there of) that has caused me to think that way.

I was wondering if that was just me. My EXPLORE page has been acting up for a while now.

I also can’t load all my notices. I keep hitting “See More”, and will be able to load a few pages, but then it gets hung up and won’t load any more. Which is really annoying, since I’ve managed to get down to only 1 unread notice, and I want that little red box to go away.

I still see the Lucari chai in Select BUTSLOW, real SLOW Explore option. Hmm. can a site "work"w/o an admin-or alternately, what if this were sponsored by tea companies to pay for its operation? Maybe a Teavanna or Adagio (some company w/big finances)? It seems like the overlords put some time into its development and it is perfectly formatted/desgined, etc- they should at least try to sell it to someone? Or expand this concept to wines, beers, chocolates, etc….

If they expand it this concept to wines, beers, chocolates, etc- I’m gone. I mean I like the idea for those products, just on a different website. One of the reasons I love Steepster is that it’s independent of tea companies and therefore more inclusive. If it’s bought by 1tea company I’m gone too. Selling isn’t necessary either. Steepster was doing great til Jason left. Just look at how far it’s come since it’s inception. Yes, I realize they aren’t getting paid, but steepster is still their responsibility. It’s not like Jason was the only admin- if he was, I could understand. Jack and Mike need to get their act together. It’s not about them not giving us cool products to drool over, it’s about site abandonment. I consider Steepster a community. And as part of that community, I personally feel abandoned and disrespected. I also see it as disrespectful to Jason. As the only one I ever saw on here, I know Jason cared (and I imagine still does) deeply about steepster and the way Mike and Jack are treating it is like a slap in the face to all of us. It would have sucked if we would have gotten notificiation they were shutting it down, but we didn’t even get that.

@Cofftea: If what you truly care about for this site is the community aspect – create a free forum for everyone to chat together. I don’t see how anyone “mistreating” their website can stop you from having a community feeling about something. And I really don’t think you can mistreat a website. It’s cyberspace. Even the community isn’t real. It’s not like we are all neighbors – we’re just a bunch of computer links looking at tea info.

I think the leftover Admins don’t see how this concept could easily become a business, and unfortunately don’t care to make the time to work on the site.

If Steepster grew large enough, and if they had separate websites for beer, chocolates, etc, as Lori suggested, then each “steepster” or “brewster” or “chocoster” Select would be a form of direct advertising (to an interested audience) and the advertising revenue could be significant enough for the leftover admins to make a living.

This is something that not even Facebook can do quite as well, because when you have a website that has directly interested, invested individuals, your ‘ads’ to them won’t even feel like an ad, but more like an opportunity. How many people here have looked at the Steepster Select and wished they could have gotten it, or actually caved, and didn’t feel like they were being advertised to but instead getting special deals? While Steepster Select offers are often very good deals and better than one could get elsewhere, it is still an ad.

Admins, I doubt you’re reading this message, but if you are, get some people with vision to join your team. You might not be sitting on a billion dollar facebook, but if I were the one with programming skills and in your position, it would be hard not to at least try.

I haven’t seen steepster select for some days and was wondering too. Although I sell tea more than buying tea, even I kind of miss the steepster select. :-p

I agree with Lori and Shinobicha that the concept of steepster is great, especially when tea drinkers often feel a need to get united.

I’ve just watched the movie “social network”, loved the movie but think it’s too “new age” to my old fashioned mindset. I think that’s why I like steepster very much. The network concept is very advanced and tea is always classy.

I’m still seeing the Lucari Chai as the Steepster select…but I’m gonna say this: While I miss not getting a daily deal, my wallet has been very, very happy about it.

That being said, my tea expenditures have really increased since joining Steepster. I’ve been introduced to new companies (Hi, Frank!!), and teas I’d never heard of before (chocolate berry earl grey?! vinegar black tea?!) and don’t ever want to be without again.

I’d also be one who’d be willing to pay a fee for this site. I love that it’s free, don’t get me wrong, but it’s also awesome and I don’t want it to go away.

Ditto Jaime. I may or may not pay for Steepster or certain extras, but my worry is it goes from working fine to certain things getting dropped when one admin leaves and then to certain or all features of steepster wanting payment. I would not pay if that happened.

Each one of them contributed to Steepster in one way or another. Jack was the designer who made this website the way it looks now. Without Jack this website would look like http://ratetea.net. Sorry, Alex Zorach, no offense to you. It’s a very nice site for a one man job.

Jason kept us informed about the progress and future of Steepster. We’ve been relying on him since day one to fix broken aspects of the site, maintain the select, resolve silly quarrels, similar to the one we’re all having now, among other things. I think we’ve put a lot of pressure on him. He’s in a time of crisis so let’s give the man a little break. Steepster Select will return in due time. Why are we all in such a rush to empty our wallets?

Mike, well, without Mike, Steepster wouldn’t exist. Backend developers never get any credit. You know when you press the add to cupboard button and the tea magically appears in your cupboard or the awesome explore page? Well that’s done by Mike & Jack. The logic is done by Mike and the fancy effects are done by Jack. Now I could be wrong, but you get the idea. Without Mike, Jack’s ideas and layouts would remain, well on paper. Without Jack, then the site wouldn’t look as it does now and it wouldn’t be very usable. Without Jason, we wouldn’t be having this discussion right now. We wouldn’t get all fed up over the lack of Select updates.

Ricky, you make good points and I completely agree. I did not mean to put heat on Jason… I’ve actually said several times that I completely understand his need for being MIA. That method works great when all is right w/ the steepster world, but when things aren’t I was hoping Jack and Mike would pick up some of Jason’s responsibilities A.) for our sake and B.) to make it easier on Jason when he returns. I hope Jason reads this stuff and feels loved:)

Just wanted to let people know that I am ok (thanks for the concern) and that I will be back shortly to address issues and let everyone know what is/has been going on. Thanks so much for your patience in putting up with my absence.